


Virulent

by JWade



Category: Supernatural
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-22
Updated: 2016-08-23
Packaged: 2018-08-10 10:33:29
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 10,714
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7841383
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JWade/pseuds/JWade
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A demon created disease wiped out all angels about a hundred and fifty years in the future. Gabriel, on his death bed, sent Sam back to the time they met to fix everything. Past Gabriel isn't so cooperative though.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

Sam merged with his past self just as the stake flew from his hand towards Dean in order to stab Gabriel. Gabriel had missed on his timing, but that wasn’t surprising as sick as he was. Sam was too late to stop the stake from flying, but he jumped up from the floor and managed to tackle Dean just as Gabriel hit the floor in a defensive position before he could get stabbed. “What the hell?!” Dean exclaimed as he shoved Sam off of him and picked up the stake and started for Gabriel only for Sam to jump between his brother and the now powerless archangel. 

“I’ll explain later, but don’t kill him,” Sam said and once he saw Dean stand down, he couldn’t hold himself back anymore and pulled Gabriel to his feet before circling him in a crushing hug. When Gabriel started trying to shove him away, Sam let go, but moved a hand to Gabriel’s face causing the archangel to glare at him, but Sam just looked on him in awe. “I had forgotten how beautiful you were, Gabe.” Gabriel growled and slapped Sam’s hand away from him and Sam chuckled. “Right. Sorry. Explain first. I’m from the future. About a hundred and fifty years in the future to be exact,” Sam started. 

“How were you even alive a hundred and fifty years in the future?” Dean asked in shock. Not believing Sam wasn’t even an option. 

Sam smiled softly at Gabriel, still not having taken his eyes off of him, and the archangel spoke for the first time since everything changed. “Oh hell no. No way would I bond with a human! Especially not you!” Sam’s lips twitched in amusement for a moment before Gabriel continued. “And what the hell happened to my powers!?”

Sam grimaced. He had forgotten about that. Gabe without powers would feel horribly vulnerable and weak. “Yeah. Sorry about that. You’re kinda burnt out for a few years. Something about a paradox. As long as we lived in this dimension in the previous timeline you won’t be able to access your powers here.”

“And how long is that?” Gabriel hissed narrowing his eyes angrily. 

“Three years, give or take. We moved into a nice little dimension with your tropical island after you helped us avert the apocalypse.”

“Three years! I’m stuck as a powerless human for three years!” Gabriel exclaimed before taking a few deep breaths to calm himself down in a gesture Sam was exceptionally familiar with. “Why?” he finally asked once he was calm again. 

“That’s kind of a long story,” Sam led with and when he noticed the impatient look on Gabriel’s face, he just smiled and started. “Well you were never exactly forthcoming with us about why you were doing all this, not that we would have believed you anyway so it doesn’t really matter, but suffice it to say, we had no idea what not to do to avoid the apocalypse and we were led by the nose into playing our roles. Right up until we realized what we’d done. Lucifer was roaming the world and we were fighting like hell to stop him. After a bit of a dust up with the three of us, you joined up to help us stop the whole thing, you and I got together, Lucifer and Michael were both shoved into the cage, and we all retired happily. Dean and his family visited us on the beach often, even spending part of the summers there. You and I had six amazing children. Life was great.”

“Well if it was so great, why come back?” Gabriel asked distastefully, choosing to avoid the complete improbability of any of that for the moment. He would get the story first before he told the hunter just how insane it was. 

“So let’s backtrack a bit. While we were getting on with our lives and living happily, heaven was in turmoil with the loss of Michael. Raphael wanted to reopen the cage and restart the apocalypse not that there was any way to do that since the horsemen’s rings were destroyed. Well, other than Death’s of course. A large faction of angels, led by Castiel who helped us stop it in the first place didn’t want that and heaven erupted into civil war. There was a lot of stuff that happened, but in the end Raphael was dead and Castiel was running heaven. You were the last archangel and obviously you had no interest in leading…”

“Archangel?! Angels?! Heaven?! I think you hit your head in that fall,” Dean interrupted. 

“What so you think demons exist but not angels?” Gabriel snapped. 

“ANYWAY!” Sam yelled before an argument could get started. He well remembered the days before these two learned to get along and how explosive their arguments could be. “Castiel running heaven seemed like a good idea on the surface, but ended up being a disaster. He was all about free will for all angels, while barely understanding the concept himself…”

This time it was Gabriel who interrupted. “Seraphs aren’t built for free will. They would be a mess!”

“And they were. They were running amock. In heaven and on earth. The demons got tired of dealing with them so they started doing research on how to rid themselves of the ‘pests’. It took a long time, but they finally found a way to solve their problem without fighting and losing. They developed some kind of infection that attacked an angel’s grace and it was highly contagious. Humans could even be carriers. That’s how you got it. You lasted the longest since you have so much more grace, but you were deteriorating badly and there was nothing we could do. You used the last of your strength in a last ditch effort to send me back and stop it before it started.”

“So what? I sent you back just in time to save my life? Was the future me under the impression that it would earn you some goodwill or something?” 

“No, actually,” Sam said with a shrug. “We were aiming for the day we met, but given his condition it’s not surprising that he miscalculated a bit. The plan is for us to avert the apocalypse before it starts this time, keeping things intact in heaven so the demons never see the need to create the disease in the first place. Barring that, you and I, and Dean and his family if they want to come, seal ourselves in alternate dimensions and never come back to this one.”

“So basically, just let all the angels die as long as we keep me alive?” Gabriel said raising his eyebrow. He was surprised that the hunter would be so ruthless. 

“We try to save them all, but I refuse to lose you regardless of whether we succeed or not,” Sam said firmly. 

“You seem to think you’ll have me at all this time around. Now that I know what’s waiting for me I’d be smart to head the other way and not look back,” Gabriel pointed out. 

“That won’t save you from this disease. Not unless you’re talking about sealing yourself in another dimension, but you can’t do that until you get your powers back anyway,” Sam pointed out. 

“I’m not talking about the disease. I’m talking about you. You really think I want to be tied down to one person for the rest of eternity? I don’t know how you managed to talk me into it before, but I don’t intend to give you the chance this time,” he said crossing his arms and daring Sam to disagree. 

Sam gave a smug smirk that he had picked up from his lover in the future. “See, future you thought you would think that way, so he pointed out the fact that you’re human now and gave me full permission to kidnap you until you see reason. Well he gave permission for more than that really, but I’m not going there.”

“You wouldn’t…” Gabriel glared. 

“Watch me,” Sam said, smirk widening. “You’re gonna need help learning how to function as a human anyway.”

Gabriel rolled his eyes. “Please. I’ve lived among humans for millennia. I think I know how to be human.”

“I know you better than you think Gabe. Trust me. You’ll need help,” Sam said smugly. 

“Okay. Hold on a second here. Don’t you think I should be consulted if we’re gonna be taking on dead weight like that?” Dean cut in. 

For the first time, Sam looked away from Gabriel as he turned to his brother. “Dean. You’re my brother and I love you. But I’ve lived without you for over a hundred years now. He’s not negotiable. If you don’t feel like you can stay, I understand.”

Dean’s response was cut off by the auditorium door slamming. When Sam turned to look Gabriel was gone. “Shit!” he exclaimed.


	2. Chapter 2

Sam took off running for the doors while calling back to Dean, “Cut him off around back!” He knew better than most just how quick Gabriel could be. Thankfully, even if they lost him now, Sam knew him well enough to be able to find him again. It would still be much easier if he didn’t have to, of course. Sam caught sight of a golden mop of hair disappearing out the back door of the building as he rounded the corner and picked up speed. Gabriel may be faster in general, but Sam had more power in his stride. He was closing the distance, but too slowly. If Dean didn’t manage to slow him down, Gabriel would get lost in a crowd and Sam would have to track him down. 

Sam bolted out the door just as Gabriel was about to leave the alley only for the Impala to block his way and Gabriel bounced hard off the side of it. Sam made it just in time to catch Gabriel before he hit the ground and he wrapped him tightly in his arms to make sure he didn’t try another runner. “I told you to cut him off not run him over,” he told Dean wryly.

Dean just gave a sheepish shrug, able to see the amusement on his brother’s face, so not taking offense at the criticism. Gabriel seemed resigned to his fate now as he went limp and pouted as Sam manhandled him into the car. “You’re seriously kidnapping me?” Gabriel questioned indignantly. 

“Yup. On your orders at that,” Sam said with a grin. “Your exact words were ‘don’t you dare let him get away’ if I remember correctly.”

“Oh so you always do everything I say?” Gabriel taunted, trying to goad Sam into letting him go. 

Sam just laughed. “It’s not gonna work,” he said. “And neither is drugging me, or waiting until I’m asleep to sneak out, or using the old bathroom window trick, or even talking me in circles until you convince me that it was my idea. That one stopped working a few decades ago.”

“So it still worked for over a hundred years then?” Gabriel asked with his own smug grin now. 

“I let you think it did at least,” Sam shot back. He had missed this back and forth. His Gabriel had been so sick for so long that it tended to fall to the wayside on the bad days and the good days had been few and far between the last few years. 

“You know you can let me go now right? Not like I’m gonna jump out of a moving car,” Gabriel said squirming a bit.

“Nope. Not taking any chances. Never know when you might think we’ll be going slow enough to do a runner,” Sam said. In truth he just wanted to hold Gabriel a little longer. He would have to let him go once they got to the motel, but for now…as long as he had an excuse…he wasn’t going anywhere. 

Gabriel just huffed and pouted some more. Seeing that the drama in the backseat was over, Dean brought the conversation back to where it was before Gabriel had made a run for it. “So did you mean what you said back there? You don’t care if I leave?” 

“I didn’t say I don’t CARE. I WANT you to stay. I just said that I would understand if that’s not what you wanted. Try and see things from my point of view. From where I’m sitting you died about a hundred years ago at the ripe old age of ninety-two. Your kids got old and died. Your grandkids are pushing eighty for crying out loud. I’m used to living without you. I have a second chance to have you in my life and I hope we can capitalize on it, but not at the expense of my husband of a century and a half.”

Dean was silent for a few minutes as he did as Sam asked and tried to consider things from his point of view. It was rather strange for him to consider a future like that, but he could see where Sam was coming from, so he settled on a different kind of response. “A century and a half and you’re not sick of him yet?” he joked. 

Gabriel would never admit that he was just as interested in the answer to that question, just as he would never admit the warmth he felt when Sam said, “Not a chance,” with a happy grin. It didn’t stop him from grumbling and squirming when Sam squeezed him tighter and leaned his head against him. 

Once they made it back to the motel, Sam asked Gabriel in a pedantic tone, “Now are you going to behave and walk into the room like an adult or do I have to carry you?” 

Gabriel sneered at him, and just pulled himself from Sam’s arms and walked to the door as his answer, walking stiffly inside once it was opened and plopping in the nearest chair, arms crossed. Sam smothered his laugh and turned to Dean. “You sticking around?” he asked hopefully. 

“Yeah. I guess,” he said with a shrug. 

“Okay great. I need to go do some shopping for Gabe since he doesn’t really have anything, but I don’t trust him in public yet. Would you mind watching him for a couple hours?”

“I’m on babysitting duty?” Dean asked incredulously. 

“Well you don’t know his sizes or what he likes, so it only makes sense for me to do the shopping. I promise you won’t get stuck on babysitting duty often,” Sam assured him. He was deliberately referring to it in such a way that would make Gabriel feel like a child so that the archangel would hopefully try to prove him wrong, and judging by the glare that was leveled at him it might just work. 

“Fine. Just pick up some dinner while you’re out would you?” Dean agreed grudgingly. 

“Okay. And be careful. He is still a trickster, even if he is defanged now,” Sam warned him as he headed out to the store. 

It didn’t take Sam nearly as long as he thought it would. There weren’t many people in the store and he knew exactly what he needed. He grabbed ten over-shirts, ten a-line undershirts that Gabriel preferred, seven pairs of jeans, a few packs of silk boxers, socks, and sneakers before he headed to the toiletry department for razors, shaving cream, deodorant, toothbrush, toothpaste, soap, and shampoo, getting everything in flavors or scents or colors that Gabriel would appreciate. He also made sure to grab a duffel bag and by the time he had checked out and was walking out the door it was less than an hour later and he had maxed out one of his cards. He made a quick stop by a drive through, getting Gabriel real food which he would have to get used to eating, but with a chocolate shake to drink, and then he was headed back to the motel. 

As soon as Sam left, Dean sat back on his bed and turned the tv on, making sure to keep one eye on the archangel while he watched it. Because he was paying attention he noticed when Gabriel started squirming in his seat. He waited to see if he would do anything about it, but either he was being extra childish and refusing to move, or Sam was right and he did need a lot of help being human. When it got too distracting, Dean snapped, “Dude just go take a piss already.”

“What?” Gabriel asked looking at him funny. 

“You’re doing the pee-pee dance over there,” the hunter pointed out. 

“I’m fine,” Gabriel gritted his teeth, but Dean saw the pink rising in his cheeks and sighed. 

“Look, you just gotta aim and shoot,” Dean told him. 

“Shoot?” Gabriel asked with a raised eyebrow.

“Yeah…just…you know…relax and let it come,” Dean said, joining the archangel in blushing. If he needed a demonstration, he would just have to hold it until Sam got back. Dean wasn’t gonna touch that one with a ten-foot pole. He didn’t mind helping out, but he had lines. Very solid lines, that he was not going to cross. Ever. 

Gabriel bit his lip as he seemed to consider it for a moment before he headed for the bathroom. It was a good ten minutes before Dean heard Gabriel figure it out and he gave himself a mental pat on the back. Crisis averted. Unless… “And if you make a mess clean it up!” he yelled before turning his attention back to the television. “And wash your hands when you’re done!” he called as an afterthought. Yep. He wasn’t so bad at this. When Gabriel left the bathroom, he did so almost silently, and wasn’t heading for the chair either. “Where you going?” Dean asked lazily raising an eyebrow to let him know that he was onto him. 

Gabriel huffed and changed direction back to the chair. “Nowhere,” he pouted. 

“Good. Because Sam would gut me like a fish if I lost you,” Dean said pointedly getting him a glare in response.


	3. Chapter 3

Since Gabriel clearly wasn’t interested in watching television, Dean decided to try to distract him from whatever escape plan he was cooking up now by making conversation, and he did have some questions. Most of them would be for Sam, but there were some Gabriel should be able to answer. “So what was with the whole bond thing you guys mentioned?”

Gabriel sighed. He knew that if he didn’t tell him then Sam would so he might as well. Then at least he had some control over the flow of information. “First of all, I won’t be doing it again. Period,” he said firmly, waiting until he got a nod from Dean and ignoring the skeptisizm that was clear in it. “When an angel bonds with a human, they meld their grace with the human’s soul. It is eternal. Can never be broken. Not even in death. The angel’s life anchor’s the humans and they will no longer age, though they can be killed and if one of them dies, the other follows, and they share whatever afterlife the human soul was slated for and then it’s the human anchoring the angel. It means that the parties are together for eternity and can never be with anyone else. Ever.”

“So then when the future Gabriel died…” Dean started to say. 

“I would have died with him,” Sam finished as he walked in the door. “That’s why he sent me back. He said dying himself was bad enough but knowing I would follow him just wasn’t acceptable, so he sent me back to another version of himself to keep the bond alive.”

“So the bond is still active then?” Dean asked confused as to why Gabriel was talking like it wasn’t. 

“Not for me it isn’t,” Gabriel said annoyed. 

“It’s just one way now. I bound myself to Gabriel of my own free will and my soul still recognizes that fact, but he hasn’t yet…”

“Ever,” Gabriel interjected.

“So it’s not active for him. Just for me.”

“So basically you’re saying that you can never be with anyone but him, but he can do whatever he wants?” Dean asked making it obvious what he thought of that by his tone. 

“Exactly,” Sam said as he handed out the food. He would bring everything else in after they ate. Gabriel turned up his nose at the burger and fries, so Sam explained the facts of his new life. “You’re essentially human now, which means you have the same dietary requirements as any human. You can’t have nothing but sweets or you’ll get sick.” He waited until Gabriel looked like someone kicked his puppy before he pulled out the large chocolate shake. “I did get you this though, but only if you promise to eat the rest of the food too.”

“Fine,” Gabriel said grudgingly and proceeded to dip his burger and his fries into the shake, “to make them more palatable’ he said. 

Sam just shrugged and didn’t pay any attention to it, plenty used to Gabriel’s eccentricities and at least he was eating the real food, even if it did have a heavy coating of ice cream. Dean, however, watched the proceedings in horror. “That’s…” he started to say before Sam cut him off. 

“How many times did you tell me that it was your food and you’d eat it how you wanted?” Sam asked mouth twitching in amusement. Dean snapped his mouth closed and turned his chair around so he didn’t have to see it while he was eating. Once they were done eating, Sam let Gabriel help him unload the car, knowing that Gabriel was probably going nuts sitting still for so long. He had noticed Gabriel yawning towards the end of his meal so he should probably get to bed soon. Suddenly being human must be exhausting. Once everything was unloaded, Sam would put everything away later once Gabriel was asleep. “Ok so quick basic tutorial in being human…”

“We already covered taking a piss,” Dean informed his brother with a look that clearly said, ‘you owe me big time’. 

“Okay, so we’ll start with washing your hands and then brushing your teeth and then tomorrow we’ll tackle showering and shaving,” Sam laid out the game plan pulling the new toothbrush and toothpaste that he had gotten Gabriel out of the bag and led the scowling archangel to the bathroom. “Hey now. Quit pouting or I’ll make you use my citrus toothpaste instead of the cotton candy one I bought you,” Sam threatened with an amused grin, which only got wider at the brief light he could see in Gabriel’s eyes at the thought. 

Once Sam had taught him how to wash up and brush his teeth, and given him one of his undershirts and a pair of boxers to sleep in, he left the bathroom so Gabriel could change. When he came out the first thing he said was, “I swear to my father Sam Winchester if you even think about tucking me in…”

Sam’s whole face twitched with the effort not to laugh, but once he felt like he could form words without losing it he laid out the terms for the night. “Okay so you have a choice. Either you can share a bed with me so I’ll know if you try to do another runner or Dean and I can take shifts watching you.” Sam knew that Gabriel probably wouldn’t like the second option very much, having people watching him while he was so vulnerable in sleep. 

“No funny business,” he said sternly to Sam, narrowing his eyes and making his decision. 

“I promise,” Sam assured him. His Gabriel may have given him permission to force the matter there, but Sam was definitely not comfortable with crossing that line. 

That decided Gabriel promptly slid under the covers and was asleep almost before his head hit the pillow. Sam looked fondly at him for a moment before he walked over to Dean’s bed and plopped down next to his brother to watch television. 

Gabriel turned out to be rather restless in his sleep and Sam was having trouble hiding his growing problem as he kept looking over at Gabriel, who had ended up tossing most of the blanket. He could see where Gabriel’s shirt had ridden up, exposing a good portion of his stomach covered in that perfect golden tan and the slightly darker line of hair leading down beneath the waistband of his shorts. The blanket still covered Gabriel’s midsection, but his leg was sticking out, and Sam ran his eyes over the muscular calves. Sam knew he wasn’t hiding as well as he wanted to when Dean scoffed and said, “I’m going to take a shower. Get yourself together before I get back.”

Sam waited until he heard the water turn on before he undid his pants and pulled out his hard cock and started stroking it as he watched Gabriel sleep. He feasted his eyes as he remembered what it was like to kiss every inch of that golden skin. What it was like to have Gabriel’s cock in his mouth as the archangel moaned and begged. What Gabriel’s mouth felt like on his cock and how a thousand lifetimes of lollipops definitely had their upsides. His hand was going quicker and quicker as his breath sped up, and then Gabriel flipped over to his stomach and the blanket slid off his middle and Sam could see that perfect round ass framed so nicely in Gabriel’s shorts and he remembered what it was like to slide his cock in that tight ass. To pound into Gabriel as he begged for more, until they were both incoherent with need. Sam bit his lip against the sound that threatened to escape as he spilled over his hand. 

Sam heard the water in the shower stop about that time and hurried to clean himself up before walking over to the other bed and pulling the blanket back over Gabriel as he slept. It was funny that for all the tossing and turning Gabriel had done, he had barely moved from his spot at the edge of the bed. Sam started to reach out and run a hand through Gabriel’s sandy hair before he snatched it back for fear that it may wake him up. It was a habit he had gotten into with his Gabriel. As he lay weekened, slipping in and out of a coma, Sam often ran a hand through his bonded’s then grey, but still just as soft hair, and it was oh so tempting to do the same now, but he forced himself to turn back around and was just settling back onto Dean’s bed to watch some more television when he came out of the bathroom.


	4. Chapter 4

When Sam slid into bed next to Gabriel a couple hours later, he took care to stay on his side. That didn’t stop him from waking up with an armful of now human archangel as Gabriel was draped over top of him and their legs were tangled together. It was like a breath of fresh air for a moment, until he remembered the circumstances and a quick check revealed that he was still on his side of the bed. No sooner than that realization hit then Gabriel startled awake and shoved away from him. “I said no funny business,” he snapped.

Sam saw the moment when he realized that they were on Sam’s side of the bed and that he was laying on the hunter and he held back his chuckle as he said, “Sorry.” No need to put him more on the defensive by trying to assign blame. 

“Just…don’t let it happen again,” Gabriel snapped as he got up and stormed to the bathroom and Sam finally let a few chuckles loose. When Gabriel came back out he looked around a minute and asked, “Where are my clothes?” 

“The red bag is yours, but first you need to shave and shower,” Sam pointed out. He ducked into the bathroom to take a leak himself before he waved Gabriel in. “Let’s brush our teeth first,” Sam suggested. 

“Again? We just did that last night!” Gabriel exclaimed. 

“Yep, twice a day for that, once a day for shower and shave,” Sam told him. 

“How do you humans have time for anything else. Between this and how often you have to use the bathroom it’s a wonder you even use any other rooms,” he said annoyed. 

Sam couldn’t help but laugh at that. When Gabriel glared at him, Sam tried to explain. “Sorry…it’s just…you said the same thing last time…”

“You mean I was human before in your future?” he asked distastefully. 

“Not exactly. Your grace was injured in the battle to stop the apocalypse and it took a couple weeks to heal,” Sam told him. 

Gabriel just huffed and grabbed his toothbrush. Sam had gotten him a soft bristled one since he knew his gums were sensitive, and he was glad now because the depowered archangel was brushing rather violently with his cotton candy kid’s toothpaste. Once they were done brushing Sam shifted in front of Gabriel and took his face in his hand as he reached for the shaving cream. “What are you doing?” Gabriel asked suspiciously swatting Sam’s hand away. He had assumed that Sam was just going to show him and leave him be like with the brushing. 

“Do you really want a sharp razor on your face and neck without knowing what you’re doing?” Sam asked pointedly. 

“Fine. I’ll just grow a beard then,” Gabriel said crossing his arms. 

“Won’t work,” Sam said smugly. “You can’t stand the feeling. The itching drives you nuts.” Gabriel was about to say that he would chance it before the next words came out of Sam’s mouth. “By the end of the first day you were begging me to shave you.”

No way in hell was Gabriel going to beg Sam for anything, and he got the feeling that if he was stubborn about this, Sam would make him. He was still trying to come to terms with the fact that the hunter knew him so well. “Fine. But only because you insist,” Gabriel snapped. 

Sam just gave him a fond smile, eyes twinkling with mirth. He knew exactly what had gone through Gabriel’s head, which was exactly why he’d said what he did. He took Gabriel’s face in his hands again as he slathered on the shaving cream. “Just to let you know, it may look like whipped cream but it tastes terrible,” he warned him in advance before he licked any of it off. 

“I’m not stupid,” Gabriel said defensively despite the fact that he had been thinking just that. 

Sam chuckled as he finished lathering Gabriel’s face and neck and then grabbed a razor and started the shave. He knew Gabriel’s face so well he didn’t really have to pay too close attention to what he was doing, which was a good thing since he ended up getting lost in Gabriel’s whiskey eyes. 

Gabriel met Sam’s eyes and was caught off guard with the adoration and devotion he saw there and he quickly cut his eyes to the side, careful not to move his head while Sam had a razor so close to his throat as he scrambled for a topic of conversation to cut the intimacy of the moment. “So you mentioned something about forgetting what I looked like?” he asked having been curious about that since yesterday. 

“Yeah,” Sam said swallowing the lump in his throat. “Part of the disease was how it affected the vessel. It aged an angelic vessel drastically. You were…almost a skeleton by the end. Your skin was wrinkled and both it and your hair were grey. All of your muscle had withered. Your eyes were sunken in, you had lost your teeth, you were barely more than skin and bones. I hated seeing you like that,” Sam said tears welling up in his eyes at the thought. 

“See. It’s stuff like that why I’m so against bonding. You were trapped with someone disgusting and infirm and there was nothing you could do about it,” Gabriel said feeling like he had finally gained some ground. 

“God, Gabe…is that what you got from that? No. That couldn’t be further from the truth. I didn’t hate seeing you like that because you were disgusting. I hated it because it made it obvious that you were sick. That I was losing you. That I was failing you and there was nothing I could do. And no matter how much that hurt, it could never be worse than never having you in the first place.” 

“But you were stuck taking care of me. Couldn’t do what you wanted to do. Couldn’t live your own life,” Gabriel wasn’t going to give up the first bit of traction he’d gotten so easily. 

“You were my life. You ARE my life. No matter how you feel about me now, that doesn’t change. I WANTED to take care of you, just like I want to take care of you now. At least it made me feel like I was doing something. That I was helping in some small way. You did so much for me. Always. The chance to give something back was a gift. I just wish it hadn’t been under such horrible circumstances,” Sam finished softly as he wiped the last of the leftover shaving cream from Gabriel’s face, running his thumbs over the archangel’s smooth cheeks pretending to check his work. 

Gabriel obviously didn’t buy it though because he pushed Sam’s hands away with a brusque, “We done?” He didn’t want to think about the feelings that were starting to well up in him. Even if he was doomed to repeat his mistakes, he sure as well wasn’t going to give in after a single day. 

Sam sighed sadly as he said, “Yeah. We’re done. Let me show you how to work the shower and stuff and then I’ll leave you to it.” Sam showed Gabriel how the shower worked, explained how to wash his hair and his body and what parts to pay extra attention to, and then he went and grabbed Gabriel some clothes and set them on the toilet for when he was done. 

About ten minutes later Sam heard a thunk followed by a crash and went barging into the bathroom to make sure Gabriel was okay. The archangel yelped and wrapped the shower curtain around himself, glaring at the hunter. “I…um…just wanted to make sure you were okay,” Sam said entranced by the little he could see of Gabriel’s body and knowing that he was completely naked behind the curtain. 

“I’m fine,” he snapped. “I just slipped on that smelly brick thingy.”

“Right…okay…”

“Out!”

Sam finally left and closed the door behind him before shaking his head at Gabriel’s reaction. The archangel was about the farthest thing from a prude in existence. The only reason he was acting so prudish around Sam was because of what he represented. Hell, he probably wouldn’t hesitate to walk around naked in front of Dean, though seeing his brother’s reaction to such a sight would definitely be amusing. Hell, Gabriel would probably jump into bed with Dean in a heartbeat if Dean was interested. Sam was different though. There was too much potential there. Potential that Gabriel was trying to avoid. That he was running away from. Last time, he hadn’t seen it coming before it was too late. They had been sleeping together before love ever entered the picture. It had started on the spur of the moment. They were celebrating Gabriel figuring out how that cage was opened, and Sam was more than a little drunk and had kissed the archangel and he woke up the next morning with a sore ass and an archangel curled up at his side. It had become a regular thing after that. Gabriel’s tantrum when feelings had gotten involved was definitely one for the history books, and he had no illusions that this Gabriel would be any easier to get through too. Maybe even more difficult since he had his guard up.


	5. Chapter 5

Sam glanced over at his still sleeping brother. It would never cease to amaze him how the slightest threatening sound would have him out of bed weapon in hand before anyone could blink, but other than that he could sleep through a train wreck. As it was, Gabriel was just coming out of the bathroom fully dressed, when Dean woke up and took over before Sam got to it and the younger hunter just sighed. He still needed to shave and shower himself, but at least Dean had showered last night so he wouldn’t have long to wait. 

Once everyone had done their morning routines, Dean motioned for everyone to sit down. “Okay first things first, we need to skip town sooner rather than later. We’ve been here too long as it is,” he explained. Sam nodded in agreement, so Dean continued. “Secondly, next time I’m getting my own room. You two can have one and I get one. I’m not complaining about the sleeping arrangements but one bathroom for three people is going to get real old real fast.” Not to mention when Gabriel did give in to Sam, Dean didn’t want to be there for it. He knew it was only a matter of time. He’d never seen Sam so sure of something in his life. Plus, his brother was like a dog with a bone when he wanted something. The humanized archangel was already a goner. He just didn’t know it yet. “Big question is, are we still hunting or just laying low for a while.”

“Laying low. I’m not leaving Gabe alone, but I can’t watch you go out there without watching your back either, and there is no way in hell I’m letting any monster within a thousand feet of Gabe,” Sam summed up quite nicely. 

“Okay. Fair enough,” Dean said. He didn’t really like it, but he had expected as much when he signed on to stick with Sam. Then another idea struck him. “Okay so what if we head to Bobby’s, then he and I can grab any hunts that come up and he can watch my back, while you and Gabe man the hotline. I bet he’d be good at it.” Dean was all for sticking with Sam for the most part, but sitting on his hands for possibly years would drive him insane.

“If Bobby is good with that, I am,” Sam said. 

“Don’t I get a say?” Gabriel asked petulantly. 

“As long as your say doesn’t involve you leaving, of course you do,” Sam told him. 

Gabriel blinked at him a moment. He hadn’t quite expected that answer. He had just been airing his unhappiness. “Well what is this hotline thing?” 

“Hunters call in when they get in trouble and we send help their way when any other hunters are in the area or tell them what they’re hunting or how to kill it if they can’t figure it out, or even pretend to be federal agents to confirm their fake credentials,” Sam explained.

Gabriel grinned at that last one. “That could be kinda fun. Better than sitting around doing nothing at least.”

“As long as you don’t play any jokes and get people killed,” Dean warned. 

“He wouldn’t,” Sam cut in before Gabriel could defend himself, probably nastily. “Not hunters. He’s all about saving lives.” Gabriel gave him a half-hearted glare for outing him like that. 

“But he kills people,” Dean argued, remembering why they had ended up in this stupid college town in the first place. 

“Only ones who destructively hurt and kill other people without remorse and would continue to do so if not stopped,” he said with the air of someone reading a quote. 

“Seriously?” Dean asked looked at Gabriel with something akin to respect. Finding out that he was an archangel was a big game changer for him but this was something that would have him firmly on Gabriel’s side. Gabriel just shrugged, obviously embarrassed, so Dean said, “Okay then. Bobby’s it is.”

“Don’t you think we should consult him about this little plan first?” Sam asked amused. 

“We can do that when we get there. You know he never minds us stopping by,” Dean said dismissively. Sam thought it might be different now with someone else in tow, but refrained from saying so. Dean knew Bobby better than he did now after Sam hadn’t seen him for a century and a half. Things got rather disconnected after all that time. It would be great to see the old man again. His end hadn’t been an easy one or a happy one, but then most hunters’ weren’t. 

They got in the car, intending to stop for breakfast on the way, and when Sam slid in the backseat with Gabriel again, the archangel huffed. “You’re not gonna hold onto me again are you?” he asked distastefully. 

“Do I need to?” Sam asked with a raised eyebrow and when Gabriel shook his head with a sneer, Sam just smiled indulgently at him and said, “Then no, but I am gonna sit back here just in case.” It would be far easier to grab him if he did try to make a run for it. The trip to Bobby’s took all day, and Sam had forgotten just how much Gabriel could complain. He took it in stride, finding it more amusing than annoying, but he thought Dean was going to pop a blood vessel. 

When they got there, Bobby was already headed out to meet them and Dean scrambled out of the car, Gabriel right behind him and Sam following suit so he could chase him down if he took the opportunity to skedaddle. Dean looked at Bobby and spoke quickly, “Archangel Gabriel,” he pointed at the person in question, “lost his powers. We kidnapped him because Sam’s from the future where they were married. I’m going to take a walk,” he finished and stormed off. 

Sam just laughed, both at his brother and at the dumbfounded look on Bobby’s face. “Gabe’s not very good with long car rides,” he explained looking fondly at the smaller man. 

“I think you need to come inside and fill me in on the long story,” Bobby said. 

“Right. Of course,” Sam said, grabbing Gabriel’s hand as he started walking forward. 

Gabriel snatched his hand away and said petulantly, “I’m coming by myself.” Once they were inside, Gabriel turned to Sam and said, “Since your barbarian of a brother wasn’t so big on bathroom breaks, where’s the bathroom?” 

Sam pointed it out and told Bobby he’d be right back. He knew that Gabriel would see this as the perfect chance. Bobby’s bathrooms had those big windows and Sam would be distracted by the old hunter and Dean was off somewhere. Sam walked around the side of the house and stood next to the bathroom window, leaning casually against the wall. Sure enough. It was only a minute before it opened and then Gabriel dropped to the ground in a crouch, looking around wildly. 

When he caught sight of Sam standing there with a raised eyebrow looking at him amusedly, he sighed heavily and his shoulders dropped and he allowed the hunter to march him back into the house and sit him down at the table as he turned back to Bobby who just laughed when they came in. “How did you know?” 

“I was married to the man for a hundred and fifty years. I know how his mind works,” Sam said fondly looking back at his beloved. 

“Would you stop looking at me like that?” Gabriel snapped crossing his arms, pout deepening. 

“Like what?” Sam asked, wondering how Gabriel saw it. 

“Like I’m…I don’t know…your personal sun or something. It’s annoying,” he said with a glare. 

“As you can see he’s rather resistant to the idea at the moment,” Sam said with a chuckle. 

“So you just kidnapped him?” Bobby asked incredulously. 

“His future self ordered me to,” Sam pointed out. “Said there is nothing in existence that would ever keep him from loving me, in any time and in any circumstances as long as he had the chance and wanted to make sure I gave him that chance. Like I would ever have let him walk away anyway,” Sam said with another fond look at Gabriel and the archangel curled his nose up at him. 

Bobby just shrugged. It was none of his business anyway. Holding an archangel against his will just didn’t quite sit right with him, but he supposed if the archangel in question had given his permission or would give or whatever, then it must be okay. “So what do we do from here? Lock him in the basement or something?” He was rather new to the whole kidnapping thing. 

Sam laughed. “Nah. Nothing like that. He just stays glued to my side, so he doesn’t run off. Hate to have to have Dean run him over again,” he threatened with a laugh, not at all serious. 

“Okay. So. I believe you owe me a story,” Bobby said sitting down himself, Sam following suit as the young hunter started from the beginning.


	6. Chapter 6

When Dean got back, he pitched his idea on what to do now. Bobby had long been itching to get back in the field, but he was needed running support, so he jumped at the chance. Sam had a good strategic mind and as an archangel, Gabriel would know more lore than every hunter that ever existed put together. He was good leaving the hotline in their hands. Still he and Dean didn’t take a whole lot of cases. He was too old to be jet-setting all over the damn country all the time. They only took it if it was within a day’s drive. 

Gabriel ended up being very good at the whole ‘lead agent’ thing. He knew exactly when to charm and when to threaten and when to include both at the same time and he actually seemed to enjoy doing it. When there were questions about what something was and how to kill it, he always gave them with an air of superiority and never ceased to rub it in that he knew something Sam didn’t, but Sam would just give him that indulgent smile and let him. When it came to knowing who was where and calling in support, that was all Sam. Gabriel couldn’t be bothered with such a mundane task, after all. 

Within a few weeks, Gabriel had finally stopped trying to escape, but that didn’t mean he was happy about it. He might be able to come to terms with it a little more if he wasn’t so damn horny. He had never gone so long without getting any. He wasn’t going near Sam with a ten-foot pole. No way was he opening that can of worms and he suspected the old man would be more likely to kill him than anything else if he tried it. That left one option. 

Dean shot him down cold though. “Dude, even if I were into guys which I’m not, I’m not about to hurt my brother like that.”

“I’m free to sleep with whoever I want,” Gabriel said annoyed at the fact that he was being treated like he belonged to Sam. “I’ll even let you fuck me. You can close your eyes and pretend I’m a chick. I don’t care.” 

“Just because you’re free to sleep with people doesn’t mean it wouldn’t hurt Sam, and even more so since I’m his brother. Not gonna happen.”

Gabriel stomped off heatedly towards the front door. His watchers had relaxed a bit since he’d stopped trying to escape, but they still weren’t about to let him wander around outside when he was in such a mood so Sam stopped him. “Where you going?” he asked. 

“I’m going to take a walk and I don’t need a damn babysitter,” he snapped. 

“Still. I’ll go with you anyway,” Sam said following him out. He kept a few paces behind Gabriel, seeing that he didn’t want to talk, but close enough that he could catch him if he ran. 

As Gabriel walked, or more like stomped, around the salvage yard he thought. Would it really be so bad to sleep with Sam? Surely he could keep any pesky feelings out of the picture and it wouldn’t have to be regular thing. Just often enough to keep the edge off. He spun on Sam unexpectedly and pinned him against a car and kissed him hard and rough, just to see. When he felt Sam’s breath catch as he kissed him back desperately, his mind flashed to all those morning’s when Sam shaved him, still not letting Gabriel do it himself and the way he looked into Gabriel’s eyes and told him about their lives, their kids, and the feelings that he was able to keep in check the rest of the day started to rear their ugly heads during those times and then again now and he knew it was hopeless. If he let him himself fall, it would all be over. He shoved himself away from Sam with a muttered expletive and stormed off again. 

Sam stood there leaning against the car for a moment as he tried to get his reaction under control and sear that moment into his memory at the same time. God he missed Gabriel so much. That one little kiss had been like a glass of water when he was dying of thirst and he treasured it. He galvanized himself into movement a lot sooner than he wanted to though. He couldn’t let Gabriel get too far ahead and if he was ever going to do a runner it would be now. He seemed to know it would be pointless though because he didn’t even try. 

He and Sam were still sharing a bed, Sam not willing to relax his vigilance that much, and they almost always woke up tangled together. Gabriel had always been a snuggler. It wasn’t until a few days after the kiss before something changed though. Gabriel had his back pressed to Sam’s front as they slept and kept wiggling himself back on the hunter’s erection in his sleep. Sam, also sleeping, kept pressing himself forward rubbing against Gabriel’s firm ass. He was partially awake but not really aware as his hand travelled down to wrap around Gabriel’s hard cock as they moved together pulling a sleepy moan from the archangel. 

By the time either of them were awake enough to realize what was happening they were both too close to even think about stopping it. Sam buried his face in Gabriel’s neck just breathing in his scent as he picked up his pace. “Oh, God, Gabe…” he murmured as he came in his shorts and he heard Gabriel suck in a sharp breath and felt the moisture on his hand as Gabriel spilled over too. Right before he got an elbow to the side as Gabriel scrambled out of the bed and ran out. Sam heard the bathroom door slam, so he wasn’t too worried about it as he just lay there. Despite his guilt at what happened and the pain in his ribs from Gabriel’s elbow, he couldn’t resist bringing his hand to his mouth and licking it clean, getting the taste of his lover again after so long. 

Sam heard the shower start a few minutes later and when Gabriel returned he glared at Sam. “We won’t be sharing a bed anymore. I give you my word that I won’t leave and if that’s not good enough for you then you can sit there and watch me sleep, but stay the hell out of my bed.”

Sam nodded sadly. “Fair enough. I’m sorry, Gabriel. I wasn’t awake until it was too late.”

Gabriel just scoffed at that and headed downstairs. He wasn’t about to let Sam shave him. Not today and Sam was wise enough not to push it. Gabriel continued keeping Sam at arm’s length after that, refusing to show any sign of his growing affection for the hunter, and it was getting more and more difficult to do so as Sam was getting more open with stories about their future and their kids, pulling Gabriel in deeper and deeper with every sign of the deep love they had shared. 

When he woke up a few weeks later to find Sam gone, he was first confused. When he realized that he wasn’t anywhere in the house and Gabriel had, in fact, been left alone there, Bobby and Dean on a hunt a few towns over, he was alarmed. The idea of taking the opportunity to leave never even occurred to him. He just knew that something had happened to Sam. It was the only explanation. He immediately picked up the phone to call Dean and the two hunters were skidding into the driveway not two hours later and started scouring the house for clues. 

They didn’t get one until Dean somehow got a vision from Sam of an old broken bell. Gabriel scoffed wondering how that could help, but sure enough it did. The old man was actually able to tell where Sam was with just a description of the bell. Now that they knew where he was Dean was presented with a quandary. He laid out the problem for Bobby, knowing if there was anyone who could find a solution it would be him. “So I can’t let you go in there without backup and I doubt you’d let me either, but we can’t leave Gabriel alone here. Even if he wasn’t going to leave, demons have already gotten in here once, and Sam would kill us if anything happened to him, but we can’t exactly bring him with either.”

“If you think I’m just going to sit here, you’re nuts,” Gabriel pipped in. “I know more exorcisms than both of you put together, and I can fight better than both of you put together too. Give me a salt gun and let’s go.”


	7. Chapter 7

As Dean sped down the road he was rattling off instructions to Gabriel. “Make sure you stay behind me. Bobby will be watching your back. Be careful and stay close. I don’t want to know what Sam will do to be if you get so much as a scratch so if you do I’m taking it out of your hide. You got me?” 

“I’m not some fragile little flower you know,” Gabriel grumbled. 

“I don’t care what you are. All I care about is that all of us get through this in one piece,” Dean told him. Dean ran through the same instructions about five more times before they were stopped by the log in the road. They ended up having to fight through a few different ambushes by demons and Gabriel proved quite useful as he rattled off exorcisms off the top of his head even while fighting. At least Dean assumed they were exorcisms. He didn’t recognize the language, but it seemed to work. 

They managed to break through into the town in time to see Sam win a fight. When he saw Gabriel, his eyes lit up and he got up to start walking towards them. What happened next was almost in slow motion as the other guy got up off the ground and charged at Sam’s back. They all yelled a warning, but Sam didn’t turn in time and got a knife in the back. Dean grabbed Sam so Gabriel took off after the runner, Bobby on his heels. Bobby was falling way behind though and by the time he caught up, Jake Talley was lying on the forest floor, throat slit and Gabriel was walking back towards them. 

They made it back only to find that Sam hadn’t made it. That’s when Gabriel knew. This was the moment when Dean was supposed to sell his soul. This was supposed to be the starting bell of the apocalypse. He knew that he couldn’t let that happen, as tempting as it was, but he just wanted Sam back. Every feeling that he had tried to deny and bury and forget crashed down on him as he saw the hunter that he couldn’t help but love lying there in a pool of his own blood. He had to do something. He couldn’t just let this happen. It was Sam or the apocalypse, and Sam would never accept himself being the choice. Time for a hail mary. 

Gabriel turned his face towards the heavens and said, “Balthazar, hear me. This is your brother Gabriel. I’m calling in the favor you owe me or I’m going to tell everyone exactly who it was the impregnated the not so virgin Mary!”

“Geez. Not so loud,” a voice drawled from behind them. “Aren’t you supposed to be dead?” 

“Not exactly,” Gabriel said hurriedly. “Just human now.” There was no reason for Balthazar to know it was only temporary. If people had to know he was alive, better that they think him human and thus not a threat or able to grant them favors. “Now bring him back,” Gabriel said pointing to Sam as the reason he had called in the first place. 

Balthazar looked at the boy and narrowed his eyes. “He’s the vessel! You can’t possibly expect me to…we’re forbidden!” Balthazar stammered. 

“Yes well you were forbidden to knock up the virgin Mary too and I fixed that for you, so you owe me.” 

“I think I’d be in less trouble for that, thanks,” Balthazar said, but before he could leave Gabriel stopped him. 

“And how many other stories do you think I could make up that could get you into even worse trouble?” Gabriel asked harshly. 

“You wouldn’t…” Balthazar challenged.

“There is nothing I wouldn’t do,” Gabriel said evenly. “And if you think I can’t pull off lying to angels you don’t know me very well.”

“Fine,” Balthazar said cooly. “But then we’re even. For good.” 

He waited until Gabriel nodded before he went to one knee next to Sam and put a hand on his forehead and a few seconds later, Sam was sitting up gasping for breath. “Balthazar?” Sam asked confused, but the seraph had already disappeared. “You called…” was as far as Sam got before he was tackled back on the ground being kissed senseless, and then nothing else mattered as his arms wrapped tightly around Gabriel as he kissed him back desperately. This was worth dying for. He couldn’t believe he’d been so stupid to turn his back to Jake again, but when he saw Gabriel standing there looking for all the world like an avenging angel, he’d forgotten everything else, and it had been a very long time since the first time he’d lived this. 

Dean cleared his throat loudly before they got too carried away, and Gabriel pulled back and rested his forehead against a grinning Sam’s. “I’m so sorry Sam. I…I love you. I should have…should’ve told you. I just…I was stupid. I thought…”

Sam shushed him as he ran a hand through Gabriel’s hair and brought it to rest on his cheek. “It’s okay Gabe. It doesn’t matter now,” he whispered as he captured the archangel’s lips again. 

“Oh come on already!” Dean exclaimed. He so didn’t need to see this. “Can’t you at least keep it in your pants until we get back to the house?”

Sam and Gabriel both laughed and the archangel finally climbed off Sam and they got to their feet, Sam wrapping an arm around Gabriel and holding him close as they walked back to the car. “Out of curiosity, why Balthazar?” Sam asked Gabriel. 

“He owed me and is quite responsive to blackmail. I know you said that you and Castiel were close in the future, but I had nothing to hold over his head, and he doesn’t seem like he would be that easy to sway.” Sam knew he had a point. At this time Cas was still heaven’s loyal lapdog. It was just that Sam was so used to Cas being the one to come and clean up their messes when Gabriel couldn’t that it hadn’t dawned on him until Gabriel said it.   
On their way back to the house, Dean had to threaten to separate them multiple times, and when they got there, Dean and Bobby went out to a nice long dinner, not even getting out of the car while dropping them off. Hopefully by the time they got back again after the bars closed they wouldn’t be in danger of seeing or hearing anything traumatic. 

The four of them kept up the same routine for the next few years. Dean, after getting the lowdown on his future with Lisa and his son that he never knew about named Ben and their two future children, decided he would wait until Gabriel had his powers back before going to them. He knew that danger followed hunters even when they retired and didn’t want to bring it to them until he had the means to get them out of it too. He did make the trip to the town, this time with Sam and Gabriel in tow since it was a relatively easy case, in order to stop the changeling. On Sam’s advice he let Lisa lie to him at first, but once she found out what he did, he called her on it. He told her how he had always felt about her and that he wanted them to be a family, just not yet. He had some things to do to make sure they stayed safe first. After seeing how dangerous his job was, she understood that and didn’t promise to wait for him, but as long as she was free when he came back they could see what happened. 

It was two weeks after what would have been the battle to end the apocalypse when Gabriel’s powers flooded back into him and the first thing he did was bond himself to Sam. He also made it clear to Bobby that if he was every in trouble he shouldn’t hesitate to pray. He and the old man had never been so close last time around, and he and Sam were still relatively new and not even bonded yet when Bobby had died so he never got the chance before. Sam was glad that Bobby wouldn’t have to meet the same sticky end. If any of that even happened given how much events would be changed now. The apocalypse would never begin. Michael would stay in charge in heaven, no seraphs would get all power-hungry and release the leviathan, so Bobby should be safe. 

Sam explained that as long as they were on earth, Gabriel’s powers may go in and out for the next hundred and fifty years until time caught back up with itself. They didn’t spend much time in this dimension after retirement, but every time they had, Gabriel would lose his powers for that period. Gabriel decided that it would be easier to just create a new dimension for them to live in, and when they had their weekly dinners with Dean and before long Lisa and Ben, they did it on Saturdays this time instead of Sundays. Dean and the family still came to visit for a few weeks every summer and even Bobby was a regular visitor this time around. Despite knowing that the fate that had befallen them in the previous timeline had been avoided, Sam didn’t truly believe it until time had caught back up with itself and he breathed a sigh of relief. “I’m so glad I don’t have to chase after you again,” he told Gabriel and they both laughed.


End file.
